HYGRADE 42

Norway will seek to open two areas for the construction of floating offshore wind parks, which combined could hold a turbine capacity of up to 3.5 gigawatts (GW), the Norwegian oil and energy ministry said.Norway has recently been seeking to develop wind power, both onshore and offshore. The first offshore area, which the ministry will propose before July, is called Utsira North and is situated in the North Sea.  The ministry will also seek views about opening a second area, called Southern North Sea II, which is close to the offshore border with Denmark.

Incat Crowther announced the delivery of Shadow Cat HODOR, significant in that it is the first in the Shadow Cat range which for Incat Crowther.Design and naval architecture was by Incat Crowther, project management and technical consultation by Robert Smith of YCTS and construction by Astilleros Armón at their Burela shipyard in Spain.HODOR was customized to carry the specific equipment and supplies to support and enhance the owner’s mothership capabilities, and the design uses engineering of hulls proven in offshore platform service, such as the SEACOR CREWzer class and Incat Crowther 70m Fast Crew Boat (FCB) class.

The hull assembly phase of the 180,000-gt Carnival Mardi Gras was celebrated in Finland with a traditional coin ceremony at Meyer Turku shipyard. In the case of Carnival Mardi Gras, the assembly of the ship hull had already began few weeks before by the arrival of floating engine room unit from another Meyer shipyard, Neptun Werft, in Rostock, Germany.Mardi Gras is the second LNG powered cruise ship being built at Meyer Turku, and this ship will benefit from some of the investments of Meyer Turku’s $224 million  investment program.

ABB was contracted to deliver integrated vessel systems to two dredgers being built by Keppel Offshore & Marine for Van Oord, a key contract win for a new market: specialized dredgers.This is ABB’s largest dredging vessel project for a European end customer, a contract that covers integrated electrical power, automation, control and navigation packages for a pair of 10,500 cu. m. capacity trailing suction hopper dredgers built for the Dutch dredging and marine contractor Van Oord. The vessels, which will feature dual-fuel engines, are being built by the Singaporean yard Keppel Offshore & Marine and are due for delivery in 2021.

A group of leading banks will for the first time include efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions in their decision making when providing shipping company loans, executives said on Tuesday.International shipping accounts for 2.2% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization (IMO), has a long-term goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2008 levels by 2050.Working with non-profit organisations the Global Maritime Forum, the Rocky Mountain Institute and London University's UCL Energy Institute, 11 banks have established a framework to measure the carbon intensity of shipping finance portfolios.